If you would like to send us an article, contact the editor Micaela Berce

IN BRIEF - Aquaculture farming vital, says JCTR

ZAMBIAFriday, January 11, 2019

Increased investment in crop and aquaculture farming are necessary to mitigate the high cost of living, Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) says.

JCTR social and economic development programme officer Chanda Chileshe said in a statement yesterday that the high cost of mealie meal and fish usually contributes to the continued increase in the food basket of basic needs.

Stolt Sea farm achieved IFS (International Featured Standards) in December 2018 for its main packing room, located at Lira, Carnota, A Coruña, Spain.

IFS is a recognised international certification that assures food safety as well as well as the optimisation of processes.

Stolt Sea Farm is a world leader in turbot farming, with 5300 tons produced per year. The company, which maintains the ISO 9001 quality management certifications, ISO 14001 environmental management, Friend of The Sea and Global G.A.P., endorses its activity as sustainable, now incorporates the IFS certification for its processing room for turbot and sole species.

The successful cultivation of the Premium species (turbot, sole and sturgeon) that Stolt Sea Farm produces requires extensive scientific knowledge, sophisticated technology and highly specialized facilities. Since its foundation in 1972, the organization focuses on advancing aquaculture as a sustainable source of high quality, healthy food. Stolt Sea Farm is a division of Stolt-Nielsen Limited.

This represents the achievement of a milestone that will allow Stolt Sea Farm to offer the highest requirements in terms of legality, quality and food safety, offering all the transparency and efficiency to an increasing international customer base.

A rare marine heatwave is under way in places around New Zealand, with fish and other marine life likely to spend the next couple of months swimming south to find cooler water.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) has confirmed marine heatwave conditions in parts of the Tasman Sea and the seas east of the country, for the second consecutive summer.

Sea-surface temperatures are now up to 4 degrees Celsius warmer than average in the Tasman and up to 3C hotter than normal in places off Hawke's Bay, Marlborough and Canterbury.

Some eastern hot spots are even 1C or so warmer than they were at the same time during last summer's marine heatwave.

The warmer than normal waters increase the chance of subtropical sea life appearing around New Zealand. It also means fish that thrive in cooler water will have to drift further south to find it. (continue...)

Tensions between Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly and the Western Rock Lobster industry continue to simmer after Mr Kelly released findings of a review that found cray fishers were keeping portions of extra catches allowed under the local lobster program for themselves.

Mr Kelly was citing a 2018 Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development review of the local lobster program. The program was set up in 2016 by the Barnett government to provide more lobsters for the local market.

Fishermen have strongly denied the claim and criticised Mr Kelly for citing a report that isn't publicly available.

On Friday Mr Kelly pointed to several pitfalls of the local lobster program allegedly found by the review, including that during the first two phases of the program more than a quarter of the seafood was kept by the fishers themselves. (continue...)

The 2018 State of the Salmon report by the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office is a sobering read: Across the state, and in its jewel, Puget Sound, salmon are struggling to survive despite efforts of every kind to prevent extinction.

The news isn’t all bad: some runs, such as summer chum on the Hood Canal and fall chinook in the Snake River are doing better and near their recovery goals. And habitat restoration, from taking out dikes to fixing highway culverts that block salmon migration boosts salmon populations, the report found.

The problem is that more habitat is being destroyed, more quickly than it can be fixed as the state continues a turbocharged growth spurt that is chewing up salmon habitat with roads, pavement, housing and commercial development.(continue...)

For centuries, the English town of Hastings has been famous for its 1066 battle that defeated King Harold’s army and started the Norman conquest of Britain.

But the seaside town facing France is now caught up in a modern-day battle over Anglo-European relations as Brexit divides opinions among its locals.

Fishermen in Hastings want Prime Minister Theresa May to take Britain out of the EU without a deal but others are deeply concerned about the risks, reflecting sharp divisions in the country as a whole.

Hastings’ symbolism may not have been lost on opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who visited for a speech on Thursday to insist he would not discuss a possible way forward with May unless she ruled out Britain leaving the EU with no deal.

Hastings fishermen, with an eye on more maritime access, want the hardest possible Brexit: sailing out of the European Union with no deal at all come Brexit day, scheduled for March 29. (continue...)

23% of worldwide catches, that is, 30 million tons of fish are thrown overboard every year. In most cases, the fish don't survive. A wasteful practice that needs to stop and will stop in Europe.

The landing obligation, which compels fishermen to bring to shore all catches, fully entered into force in January. This will end the unsustainable practice of throwing unwanted fish back into the sea.

Researchers have anticipated the market's needs and have been working on creating innovative fishing gears. Fishermen across Europe are investing in selective nets that allow them to better target their fishery and reduce unwanted catches. The landed fish that is not suitable for direct human consumption will not go to waste either. It can be used to produce fish meal, fish oil, pet food, food additives, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

A Euronews team has recently visited fishermen and researchers in Sweden and France and tagged along fishing trips to film their innovations in action. This is the first episode of the brand new TV series Ocean, which premiered on Friday and can be watched online.

MOSCOW — RIA Novosti. The Ministry of foreign Affairs of Japan expressed protest to Moscow due to the fact that the Russian border guards fined the Japanese ships fishing near the island of Kunashir in the southern Kurils. About it RIA Novosti said the Japanese foreign Ministry.

In particular, in Tokyo claim that the January 7, employees of the Russian border guards stopped Japanese fishing trawler “Casamara-18”. The guards revealed violations, then escorted the trawler to the port on Kunashir, and then, after clarification, was released.

Tokyo has called the actions unacceptable. While in the Japanese foreign Ministry referring to its position as on the four disputed Islands, and the Agreement on fisheries off the southern Kuril Islands from 21 February 1998, according to which Japanese vessels may fish in the area for a fee according to the allocated quota.

A researcher has poured water on "emotive" claims that warming seas have spawned an abundance of jellyfish, and instead pointed the finger at a correlation with sunspot activity.

Stings by the deadly Irukandji jellyfish have more than doubled the 10-year average in Queensland, while tens of thousands of bluebottle stings have been reported from Queensland to New South Wales since December.

Marine science professor Kylie Pitt from Griffith University is seeking to publish a research paper connecting jellyfish numbers to the 22-year cycle of solar sunspot activity and subsequent changes in magnetic fields.

Pulling together worldwide datasets of jellyfish that go back decades, she said her team found the creatures would increase in abundance for 10 years, then decrease, then start again in what was found to be a 22-year cycle.

WWF-Australia and BCG Digital Ventures have partnered to launch a new blockchain-based platform to track the environmental and ethical impact of food and products.

Launching the OpenSC platform in Sydney on Thursday, the organisations said they are hoping to help people and business avoid illegal, environmentally-damaging, or unethical products.

"Through OpenSC, businesses and consumers will have a whole new level of transparency about whether the food we eat is contributing to environmental degradation or social injustice such as slavery," said WWF-Australia CEO Dermot O'Gorman.

OpenSC works by scanning product QR codes. Once a QR code is scanned, the user is shown information about where a specific product came from, when and how it was produced, and how it travelled along the supply chain.